Experts marvel at ‘absolutely awesome’ Hukporti

Ariel Hukporti is back on the basketball court, and people couldn’t be more impressed.

The Togolese-German Next Star is fully fit following a season on the sidelines with a torn achilles and experts around the NBL have been blown away by how he has looked at Melbourne United’s training camp.

After attending MU’s scrimmages on Wednesday, which saw Hukporti match up with NBA big-man and Boomers center Jock Landale, ESPN journalist Kane Pitman offered a rave review of Hukporti’s performance on the Ball and The Real World podcast.

“Ariel Hukporti looked absolutely awesome,” he told co-host Olgun Uluc.

“Like unbelievable, the athleticism… If you asked me what the biggest takeaway was non-Boomers related was, it’s not even close, it was how he looked out on the floor. I am just so excited for what he could potentially bring this year.

“Getting to talk to him, and him talking about his body and the fact that he’s jumping higher, he’s more explosive, all the data suggests he is more athletic than before.

“If you remember back, that’s the same type of thing that happened with Jack White when he came back with this Melbourne United staff from a ruptured achilles. He said that he has no concern at all with what he’s doing physically.”

While Pitman was at United’s home of Hoop City, Uluc was in Las Vegas watching Luke Travers play a starring role in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Summer League Championship.

Across six undefeated games, Travers averages 7.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2.2 blocks per game, locking down on defence and creating opportunities for his teammates.

Looking forward to how the pairing of Travers and Hukporti will look alongside each other this season, Uluc predicted a lot of highlight plays.

“I can totally envision a ton of lobs from Luke Travers to Ariel Hukporti,” he said.

“Hukporti is one of the most athletic bigs in the NBL, that feels like it’s something we see on the regular at Melbourne.”

With so much excitement already surrounding United’s group, the time is now to make sure you’re in attendance at John Cain Arena when their campaign kicks off on September 28 against the SEM Phoenix.

Tickets to each and every MU game are ON SALE NOW, while full season memberships are nearly SOLD OUT!

Over 85% of memberships have already been exhausted, so if you want to make sure you’ve got your seat locked in for each and every United home game, become a member today.